Fiber-treating machine.



C. F. LOGAN.

FIBER TREATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED lum/17.1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET1.

Patented Dec.. 11, 1917/.

c. `F. LOGAN.

FIBER TREATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED IULY I?, I9I5.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

C. LOGAN.

FIBER TREATLNG VICHINE.

APPLICATION HLED 1uLY17.1915.

Patnted 1060. H, 19W.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

C. F. LOGAN.

FI-BER THEATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION HLED1uLY1I.|915.

mgl/.fed D60. 11,1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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specification of' Lettera Patent. Patented Umm.. if, fll'i'.,

.application tiled .italy it', fait. aerial lto. amata.

fb all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that ll, Crans il. LOGAN, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia,.have invented certain new and useful improvements in Fiber-Treating .Machinos, of which the following is a spec1cation.

rllhis invention relates to improvements in ber treating machines for the treating of brous plants, leaves and the like 1n order to obtain the bers therefrom.

Une of the main objects of the present 1nvention is toprovide a support or bed for the bers while being treated which will have a positive rate of movement.

Another object of the invention 1s to provide a positivelydriven bed which will coopera-te in advancing the bers in their path of movement through the machine.

Still another object of the invention is to'provide a. system whereby the power required for operation is comparatively small and whereby the apparatus can be so arranged that it will occupy a comparatively small amount of space.

'lFo this end, a bed or support is provided whereby the bers being passed through the machine for treatment will be supported by a plurality of rolls, certain of said rolls serving as beds with which brushes coact in the treatment of the fibers, and others of said rolls serving as beds with which pres sure rolls coact in the treatment of the bers, the arrangement preferably having one or more pressure rolls interposed between each two successive brushes. Due to the pos1- tive rotation of such bed-forming rolls,.the pressing and advancing treatment exercised on the bers by such rolls will be regular and even throughout. Furthermore the use of such system of rolls for supports permits the arrangement of the apparatus in a compact machine which will occupy a comparatively small amount of space. Furthermore, to form a support for the bers or rather a bed plate for the bers while they are being treated by the several brushes, there are provided similar rollsl which, how ever, are equipped 'with disks, the disks servin as the tines of a comb. These rolls provi ed 'with the disks form rotating combs and the disks thereof pass in between the bristles of the brushes to coact with the same in the treatment of the ber.

'lhese rotating combs not only subject the fibrous plants, being treated, to a positive decorticating action and spreading action, but in addition, due to their continuous operation, prevent the collection of foreign material in the path of movement of the bers.

A .further object of the invention is to provide a system for treating bers whereby the increased length of the bers, caused by their treatment while being advanced, will be taken up by a dragging action which will stretch out and straighten out any piling up that tends to form, due to such lengthening of the bers.

it still further object of the invention is to provide a system for treating bers in which rotatable brushes are provided for treating the bers, the engaging portions of the brushes moving in a `direction opposite to the path of movement of the bers, and in which system there is provided an advancing bed for feeding the bers along their path of movement,l and a guiding conveyer to which the front ends of the bers are attached, said advancing bed coperating with the conveyer to advance said bers so that the strain created in the bers by the oppositely moving brushes will not be localized at the front ends of the bers, but will be distributed and thus prevent tearing or fracturing of the bers at their front ends.

And still another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement whereby the brushes are divided into tufts, and the bers divided into a series of strands, each strand of bers being confined along a certain path of movement to the exclusion of another strand of bers and treated by one of the tufts of a brush, each strand being treated bv an' individual tuft.

These and other features, capabilities and advantages of the invention. will appear from the subjoined detail description of one specific embodiment thereof, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichltigure l is a fragmental view in section on the line l."- of Fig. 2, showing the lili titl

'brushes for treating such fibers.

positivelyv rotated rolls forming the bedfor the fibers and also- `showing one Fig. 2'is anfragmeiitalview'showing one ofthe 'brushes partlyin section along the line 2-, a of Fig. 1,"and also showing -one Fig. 7 is a plan view of one of the ,disks of the rotating comb.

Fig. 8 is a section along the line 8&--8x of Figs. 9, 10 and 11 are diagrammatic views illustrating the crowding action that takes place in the strands with the resulting piling up and the manner' of straightening out such In the embodiment shown, there are provided two sectional side frame members 11, 11 connected to one another b -lower cross pieces 12 substantially L-shape in cross secvtion and upper crosspieces 13 substantially T-shaped in cross section. The side members l 11 are provided immediately above the `cross pieces 12 with rail members 14 'on which ythe hank bars, to which the fibrous plants are clamped, travel. Alongside of the rail mem- A bersv 14 and mounted on the cross pieces 12 are provided chain guiding brackets 15, 15 to guide the conveyer chains 16, 16, to which chains the hank bars are secured and by means of which they are drawn through the apparatus as clearly illustrated` and described in my copending application, Serial No. 875,454, liled December 4, 1914.

Alongside of the chain guiding brackets 15 and secured to the cross pieces 12, there are provided rail members 17 each having.

an upper flange 18 and a lower flange 19 extending inwardly.

The side members 11 are. each provided with a series of pockets 20 containing bearings 21 for the shafts 22 of the pressure rolls 23, the pockets 20 beingprovided with springs 24 to normally maintain the bearings 21 in their eXtreme lower positions. The rolls 23 are rotated by the friction of the fibrous plants and libers passing between them or by contact with the rotating rolls hereinafter to be described. The side members 11 are also each provided with a series of enlargements 25 in which there are provided pockets 26 containing bearings 27 for the shafts 28 of the brushes 29. The pockets 26 are likewise provided with springs 30 to of the 5 positively driven, their shafts 28 being proigiene@ normally maintainthe bearings 27 in their extreme lower positions. The brushes 29 are vided with pulleys 31 (Fig. 2) properly connected by a belt 32 with a suitable source of power not shown.

The shafts 22 are each provided with collars 33 near their ends and the shafts 28 are each provided with mutilated disks 34 near their ends with which' the hank bars engage to raise the shafts 22 'and 28 and thereby the rolls 23 and brushes 29 respectively to permit the passage of such hank bars. In the present arrangement between each two `supeessivebrushes 29 are interposed two essure rolls 23, some of 'the brushes being 'sposedbelow the ath of travel of the fibrous plants (see Fig. 3).

Below each pressure roll 23 there is provided a positively driven roll 35 and opposite to each brush 29 and which is to form a bed plate with which the brush 29 coperates, there is provided a rotating comb 36,

between which brushes 29 and rotating combs 36 the fibrous plants travel.

' The positively driven rolls 35 are each mounted on a shaft 37 carried by brackets 38 secured to the lower flanges 19 of the roll members 17. The ends of the shafts 37 are provided with sprocket wheels 39 which are engaged vby the sprocket chains 40 by means of which the rolls 35 are rotated. `The rolls 23 in their extreme lower positions are each disposed in direct contact with the rolls 35 so that they in turn will be rotated by the rolls-35 by such contact when they are not rotated by contact with the fibrous plants being drawn through the machine.

The rotating `combs 3,6 are mounted on shafts 41 carried by bearingplates 42 secured to the rail members 17 above the lower flanges 19, the shafts 41 each having gears 43 at their ends adjacent to the bearing plates 42 in mesh with gears 44 secu-red at one of the ends of the stub'shaft's 45 mounted in brackets 46 secured to lower sides of the lower flanges 19, the sprocket wheels 47 being mounted on the other ends of said stub -form the tines of the comb 35 which disk members are likewise fixed in place.

The brushes do not have rotation transmitted to them from the chains 40 but `from the belt 32 and such brushes rotate at a considerably fast rate of speedcompared to the rotation of the Vrolls and rotating combs 36. The rotation of the rolld35 is predetermined and may be set to different speeds, the desired speed being set according to the constituency of the plants being treated, so that the chains ma either exercise the same draft on the fi ers as the rolls 35 or else a greater draft.

lFrom the diagram illustrated in lig. 3, it will be seen that all the rolls 35 will rotate in the same direction, that is, to transmit an advancing movement to the bers belng treated which is in the same direction-as the movement of the chains 16. Consequently, the rolls 23 which are idlers will rotate in the opposite direction to the rolls 35, @n the other hand., the brushes 29 and the 4rotating combs 36 are rotated in directions opposite to those of the rolls 23 and 35 respectively.

'llhe speed of the rolls 35 and the rotating combs 36 and consequently the movement of the sprocket chains 46 may be regulated by the cone pulleys 50 interposed between the driving pulley 51 and the sprocket chains 16.

rllhe rotating combs 36 coperating with the brushes 29 form a bed for such brushes,

.and furthermore clean such brushes. Due to their constant rotation, foreign material cannot very well collect on the rotating combs 36 since the combs will constantly discharge any material that would collect on the same. l

rllhe rotating combs 36 furthermore enercise a decorticating and spreading action on the fibers .being treated, and both divide the brushes into a seriesof tufts (see Fig. 2), and also divide the plants into a series of strands, a strand for each tuft, so that the action of each tuft will be conned to a certain strand. v

11s illustrated in Figs. 9, 10 and l1, the liber strands 1f are secured to the hanlrbars 52. r1`hehanh bars 52 are in the lead, being attached to the conveyer chains 16 (shown in lliigs. 1, 2 and 3), 1n some instances the rolls 15 are driven to advance the fibersjust a trifle faster than the conveyer chains 16 advance the hank bars, -in which case the opposing rolls 23 and 35 would really be the members which were actively engaged in advancing the fibers 1F, and thus the strain created in the bers by the pulling action of the hank bars would entirely be overcome, whereas in other cases the strain would at least be partly relieved -according to the speed of the rolls 23 and 35 relative to the speed of the conveyer chains 16. i

Due to the treatment of the rolls 23 and 35, and that of the brushes 29 coperating with the combs 36, the bers F will stretch out and become longer, and thus, by means of the reverse rotation of the `brushes 29,

and their respectively opposing combs 36, the strands will pile up immediately behind each brush so that the tiberswillbuckle upward as illustrated in higs. 9, 16 and 11 Where the brushes are disposed above the path of movement of the fibers and buckle downward as illustrated in Fig. 11, wherever the brushes are located below the path of movement of the bers F. Due to the reverse rotation of the brushes 29 and rotating combs 36, the fibers will slip backward between the rolls 23 and 35, and whenever their tail ends are entirely .free of the rolls and acted on by the brushes and combs due to the dragging action exercised by the brushes and combs, the piling up of the strands that existed in such tail ends will be straightened out;

llt is obvious that various changes and modications may be made to the details of construction without departing from the 5 general spirit of the invention.

1 claim:

1. 1n a fiber treating machine, a frame, a conveyer mounted to travel on said frame on which conveyer the libers are attached to be thereby drawn through the machine, a bed for supporting the fibers while being drawn by said conveyer, said bed comprising a plurality of positively driven rolls, between which the ber maybe drawn; a means for simultaneously driving all of the said rolls, and independent driving means for said conveyer so that the rolls may be driven at a diderent rate of speed than the conveyer,I

2,. 1n a ber treating machine, a frame, a conveyer mounted to travel on said frame on which, conveyer the fibers are attached to be thereby drawn through the machine, a bed for supporting the fibers while being drawn by said conveyer, said bed comprising a plu- 4 @the bers, and independent driving means for said rollers and said conveyer so that diferent rates of speed relative to one another may be transmitted to said rollers and conveyer. 1

3. 1n a bertreating machine, a frame, a conveyer mounted to travel on said frame on which conveyer the fibers are attached to be thereby drawn through. the machine, a bed for supporting the fibers while being drawn by said conveyer, said bed comprising a plurality of positively driven rolls ybetween which the fiber may be drawn and fiber treating brushes opposite to certain of said rolls, between which fiber treating brushes and said oppositely disposed rolls, the bers pass, such oppositely disposed rolls serving their aries disposed' as beds with whichsaid .brushes coact, -a

`dr iving means'for all fsaid rolls, and independent drlvlng means for said conveyer sok that the rolls -maybe'driven at a differ# ent rate of speed than the conveyer.

, .4. In a" ber treating machine, a frame, a conveyer mounted, to travel on said frame.

on which conveyer thefb'ers' are attached to ce thereby drawnthrough the machine a bed for `supporting the bers while being drawn by said conveyer, said bed compris-- ing a plurality of positlvely drivenrolls, and

v ber treating brushes' opposite to certain o said rolls, betweenwhlch ber treating brushes and said opposltely disposed rolls the bers pass, such oppositely disposed mames by said conve l er, said bed comprisin a plutheir axes 's osed the bers and being rotated in a directionY ofmovement o saidl pposite to the path of movement of theers being treated while the rolls `opposite.

the pressure rolls are rotated in the same directionas the path of'V movement of the bers being treated to assist in advancing rolls serving'asbeds with which said brushes coact, said oppositely disposed rolls being positively driven and being provided withv disks to form rotating `combs to coact withthe brushes in the treatment of the bers.-

a 5. In a ber treating machine, a frame, a

Aconveyer mounted to travel on said frame `by p urality of rolls between which the ers a on which conveyer the bers are attached to -bethereby drawn through the machine, a

bed for supporting the bers while being drawn bv `sald conveyer, said bed comprising a pluralityf rolls having their axes disposed transversely of the path vof movement of said bers, and ber treatingbrushes opposite to certainof said rolls, between which ber treating brushes and said oppositely disposed rolls the bers pass, such oppositely disposed rolls serving as beds wlth which said brushes coact, `said oppositely disposed rolls being positively driven and being provided with disks to form rotatlng `combs to coact with the brushes in the treatment of the bers.

6. In a ber treating machme, a frame, a

' conveyer mounted to travel on said frame on which conveyer the bers are attached to be thereby drawn through the machine, a bed for supporting the bers while being drawn by said conveyer, said bed comprising a plurality of positively driven rolls, ber treating brushes opposite to certain of said rolls', between which ber treating brushes vand said oppositely disposed rolls the bers pass, such oppositely dis osed rolls `serving v as beds with which'said rushes coact, said oppositely disposed rolls being positively driven and each comprising va shaft, a plurality of disks mounted on said shaft, and a plurality of washers mounted on said shaft and spacing said disks from one another to form a rotating comb to coact with its oppositely disposed brush in the treatment of the bers.

7. In a ber treating machine, a frame, a l conveyer mounted Ato travel on sa1d frame on be thereby drawn through thev machine, a bed for supporting the bers while being drawn said conveyer, said bed compri'sin a may be drawn having their axes disposed transversely of the path of movement of the bers, and ber treating brushes opposite to certain of said rolls, between which ber treating brushes and said oppositely disposed rolls the bers pass such oppositel disposed rolls serving as beds with whc said brushes coact, all of said rolls being positively driven and said brushes also being driven but at a much faster rate of speed than said rolls.

9. In av ber treating machine, a frame, a conveyer mounted to travel on said frame on which conveyer the bers are attached to be thereby drawn through the machine, a

bed for supporting the bers while being drawn by said conveyer, said bed comprising a plurality of rolls having their axesV disposed transversely lof the path of movement of the bers, and ber treating brushes opposite to certain of said rolls, between which ber treating brushes and said oppositely disposed rolls the bers pass, such oppositel disposed rolls serving as beds with whc saidv brushes coact, all of said rolls being positively driven and said brushes also bein driven but at a much faster rate of speed than said rolls, said oppositely disposed rolls rotating in a direction opposite to the path of movement of said bers being treated, while the otherrolls rotate in the same direction as the path of movement of the bers being treated to assist in advancing them.

10. In a ber treating machine, a frame, a conveyer mounted to travel on said frame on which conveyer the bers areattached to be thereby drawn through the machine, a bed for supporting the bers while being drawn by said conveyer, said 'bed comprising a plurality of rolls having their axes disposed transversely of the path of movement of the fibers, and fiber treating brushes opposite to certain of said rolls, between which fiber treating brushes and said oppositely disposed rolls the fibers pass, such oppositely disposed rolls serving as beds with which said brushes coact, all of said rolls being positively driven and said brushes also being driven but at a much faster rate of speed than said rolls, said oppositely disposed rolls being provided with disks to form rotating combs to coact with the brushes in the treatment of the fibers and being rotated in a direction opposite to the path of movement of the fibers being treated, while the other rolls rotate in the same direction as the path of movement of the fibers being treated to assist in advancing them.

11. In a fiber treating machine, a roll cooperating with a brush, said roll forming a bed for the fibers being treated, being positively driven, between which roll and the brush said fibers are passed, and comprising a plurality of disks, and a lurality of washers spaced between said dis is to form a rotating comb to coact with the brush in the treatment of the fibers.

12. In a fiber treating machine, a frame, means for advancing the fibers through said frame, fiber treating brushes'along the path of movement of the fibers, and rotating combs disposed opposite to said brushes, between Which brushes and combs said fibers pass, said rotating combs forming a bed for said brushes and also forming cleaners for said brushes, the constant rotation of said combs serving to constantly discharge any foreign material that might collect on said combs. V

13. In a fiber treating machine, a frame, a conveyer mounted to travel on said frame on which conveyer the fibers are attached to be thereby drawn through the machine, a

bed for supporting the fibers while being drawn by said conveyer, said bed comprising a plurality of rolls having their axes disposed transversely of the path of movement of the fibers, fiber treating brushes opposite to certain of said rolls, between which fiber treating brushes and said oppositely disposed rolls the fibers pass, such oppositely disposed rolls serving as beds with which said brushes coact, all of said rolls being positively driven at the same speed and said brushes also being driven at the same speed but at a much faster rate of speed than said rolls, and means for regulating the speed of the bed-forming rolls.

14:. In a fiber treating machine, a frame,

-a conveyer mounted to travel on said frame on which conveyer the fibers are attached to be thereby drawn through the machine, a bed for supporting the fibers while being drawn by said conveyer, said bed comprising a plurality of rolls having their axes disposed transversely of the path of movement of the fibers, fiber treating brushes opposite to certain of said rolls, between which fiber treating brushes and said oppositely disposed rolls the fibers pass, such oppositely disposed rolls serving as beds with which said brushes coact, all of said rolls being positively driven and said brushes also being driven but at a much faster rate o f speed than said rolls, a continuous connectlon for transmitting rotation to said bed-forming rolls simultaneously, and means for regulating the speed transmittedto said continuous connection thereby to regulate the speed of said bed-forming rolls relative to the speed of said conveyer.

CYRUS lE. LOGAN.

Witnesses:

GUs'rAv DREws, H. D. PENNEY. 

